The City of Malibu is partnering with the Malibu Library to offer a speaker series in Malibu. The series, which is free and open to the public, features an array of renowned authors and public speakers who will expose their audiences to some of the greatest thoughts, insights and influential minds of our time.

Upcoming Speakers

Diane Luby Lane is Founder/Executive Director of Get Lit-Words Ignite, Southern California's leading nonprofit presenter of literary performance, education and teen poetry programs. The Get Lit Players are an award-winning classic teen poetry troupe that performs for over 15,000 teens each year.

Lane's LIT KIT, a standards-based, in-school curriculum, has been adopted by over 45 Los Angeles County high schools. Each year, she produces an event called the CLASSIC SLAM, one of the largest poetry festivals for teens in the nation and the only to combine classic recitation with modern spoken word.

Lane has appeared in numerous films, television shows, and national commercials. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show Deep Sea Diving (AKA Born Feet First) has toured high schools and colleges across America. She is a TEDX speaker and a member of Mayor Garcetti's select Poet Laureate Committee.

David Garibaldi's synergy of music and art is what makes him unique as a painter and a performer. The performances he unwittingly practiced as a graffiti rebel in his garage are now on a public stage. As a performance painter, Garibaldi creates images through his body movement and brushes while communicating via music to an amazed audience.

Garibaldi's Rhythm and Hue is much more than a performance art and paint flailing presentation; it is an inspirational experience. Garibaldi tells the story of how a high school teacher challenged him to make his art more purposeful. He shares his personal struggles and triumphs that helped to shape him into a world-renowned painter and performer in the studio and on the stage.

Garibaldi has been seen on various networks like MTV, NBC, UPN, PBS, in addition to worldwide publications like Art World News, Art Business News, and Yahoo! News.

Student leadership and teen help whiz Scott Backovich is an internationally demanded youth motivational speaker who has presented to millions of students around the globe. Scott's quirky yet powerful style and message speak to students at their own level, helping them to understand the true potential they hold.

Still in his twenties, Scott understands that students today need to be reached in new and innovative ways. From cell phones to Twitter updates, Facebook to YouTube, teens have both grown up in and created a culture that has redefined what it means to connect. Scott has dedicated his life to connecting with and empowering students everywhere.

While not on tour, Scott can be found online answering questions from teens around the globe. After all, it's not just about speaking to young people; it's about connecting with them where they are.

Johnny Strange is a Malibu native and an adventurer who was once the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits at the age of 17. His father and mother are both adventurers who have climbed Mt. Everest. Strange's first climb at age 12 was Vinson Massif in Antarctica. Since then, he has climbed Mt. Everest, Mt. Kosciusko, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. McKinley, Mt. Aconcagua, and has also reached the South Pole and skydived into the North Pole.

In September 2010, Strange was with a team of three others who base-jumped into the Grand Canyon and stranded themselves without food or water, their planned exit path blocked. They survived two days in the canyon in high temperatures before free climbing out.

Johnny is an avid Wingsuit BASE jumper and competes in races in Europe. He uses action sports to raise awareness for charities and causes that don't receive adequate attention.

Michael Backes is the head of research and development for a Southern California-based consultancy that specializes in cannabis science and policy issues. He provides guidance based on the latest research to medical cannabis patients, researchers and healthcare practitioners.

Previously, Backes founded Cornerstone Research Collective, the first science-based medical cannabis collective in California. He is also active with Project CBD, a non-profit educational service dedicated to promoting research into the medical utility of cannabidiol (a non-psychoactive cannabis molecule), and the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines.

Backes is the author of Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana, which was released in September 2014.

Norman Ollestad's Crazy for the Storm, a powerful memoir of survival, was called "breathtaking," "riveting," and one of the best books of 2009. It tells the story of Ollestad's childhood with a larger-than-life father who taught him the essence of survival.

Growing up surfing huge waves and skiing down steep slopes over and over again, Ollestad was pushed to the brink and encouraged to be the best he could be, conditioned at an early age for extreme circumstances. Little did he know that the lessons he absorbed from his adventures with his father would one day save his life.

In February 1979, an 11-year-old Ollestad was flying in a chartered Cessna with his father and his father's girlfriend when the plane crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. By the end of his nine-hour ordeal, Norman was the only survivor. At 8,200 feet, he descended the icy mountain engulfed in a violent blizzard.

Crazy for the Storm reveals that inner strength can make all the difference in a life. A film adaptation is currently in development with Warner Bros.